Thanks to Leigh Caldwell for putting together this great review of Pollo Campero, Disney World’s newest quick service restaurant, which opened in Downtown Disney this weekend. Leigh writes about Walt Disney World and theme parks in general on her site, ThemeParkMom.com, and for AOL’s travel blog, Gadling.com.

My daughter and I made a visit to the Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney this weekend, and we had to stop in to try the new Pollo Campero restaurant for lunch.

Pollo Campero is a counter service restaurant, which shares space with two other eateries – Fresh A-Peel and Babycakes NYC. It’s part of a chain of chicken restaurants that serve up Latin flavors.

The new restaurants opened Nov. 12 at Downtown Disney, in the building formerly occupied by McDonald’s, in between T-Rex Cafe and the Lego store.

Atmosphere
At Pollo Campero and Fresh A-Peel guests order at the counter, get their food and proceed to a central bank of cash registers to pay, much like the Sunshine Seasons set-up. There was a long line when [Read more…]

This bakery, featuring gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, vegan, agave-sweetened, and kosher products (among others) is an ideal place to finish off a meal and a great place to cater to special diets. Check out the menu from the shop’s NYC location to get an idea of what they’ll be offering.

Thanks to @PlazaandMainSt for this pic from the new bakery: a chocolate cupcake top: $2

According to the Orlando Sentinel, McDonald’s is pulling out of the Disney World entertainment district, Downtown Disney.

The McDonald’s restaurant at Walt Disney World’s shopping-and-dining district will close April 30, Disney said this afternoon.

This is the part of the fall-out from the end of the Disney/McDonald’s exclusive sponsorship agreement, which terminated in 2004.

“Our alliance partners are ever-changing and this shift in our relationship with McDonald’s reflects the dynamic nature of the sponsorship business,” Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said.

The replacement restaurant, Pollo Campero, is a Latin chicken fast-food chain. Business Wire is reporting that the chain is joining forces with franchisee Levy Campero to provide a new concept restaurant in Downtown Disney based on Pollo Campero’s standard family-style Latin dining coupled with new fresh, healthy menu additions, like chef-made salads, sandwiches, fruits, and healthy snacks as well as vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free, low-sodium or organic offerings.